Revelation (Lorica)
Revelation The Revelation refers to the rise of the revelationist school of thought. The Revelation would dramatically alter the balance of power throughout the world, resulting in ultimately widespread adoption of magical and technological research, invention, and advancement, and hence is a major watershed moment if the world's history. Overview In the central story of Lorica, the Revelation, protagonists Altair and Qura set out on a quest of discovery and creativity. They learn spellshaping only gradually, even as other organizations in the world wield much more potent spells. They learn and invent their spells from the ground up, with the story explaining every step of the way. Thus the "library of spells" that they have at their disposal grows logically, one step at a time, and the reader is brought to a gradual understanding of how the great variety of spell components can be combined for a particular purpose. So while it is bewildering and mysterious at first, there is definitely a rule framework around it - the system is about as scientific as a magic system can get - and by the end, it all makes sense. Eventually, the main (and minor) characters have - and effectively use - hundreds of spells in their arsenal, with more constantly being developed. The technology of spells is already very developed; however it has generally been either kept under wraps or kept suppressed. Hence, even though the technology is there, for the most part the world is still stuck in medieval stasis. The story of the Revelation is the story of the opening up of spellshaping to any who would learn it - and the struggles between Altair and Qura and the revelationist school they found, who wish to share the gift of spells with the world, and vested interests the world over who would do everything they can to suppress or restrict spell technology. Altair and Qura's Quest In 3822 AL (20 BEA), Altair and Qura (the story's first protagonists), at the tender young age of 14 and 10, run away from their homes in Aeutaril, Ethaya, resolving to explore the world and care for each other until they've explored the entire world. Eventually they would circumnavigate the globe; journey that would take them 12 years; they would return to their homes twice the age when they'd first set out. Along the way they would learn much about the world of faera and of magic and magical techniques, becoming rogue spellshapers in their own right and starting their own sect. Along the way they would befriend dozens of peoples from many walks of life, of many cultures, and bring them along. Initial going was slow; it would take them two years to leave Ethaya for Detariya. In Detariya they would stumble upon the means to purge the continent of the Scourge of Detariya, an action with massive consequences later on. From Detariya they then traveled on to Origina and Tyra, to Tiranwyn in Ethaya and finally back to their home in Aeutaril in 3834 AL (8 BEA). Altariya Academy Years Altair and Qura start their sect, and hence the beginning of the revelationist school, in 3834 AL (8 BEA), resulting in a series of conflicts with the guilds of Ethaya that saw them and their followers fleeing to Detariya, where the purging of the manasapper scourge would allow them to work magic, but where the guilds had no power due to the scourge's prevalence over the preceding several centuries. Altair, Qura and company found their Altariya Academy in 3836 (6 BEA), where anyone who wanted to learn and teach magic could do so freely. It was neither the first nor the last institution to do so, nor was it particularly successful. It would be destroyed in 3841 (1 BEA) by the guilds' Order of Keepers, which had returned to Detariya now that the scourge was gone. (The guilds had been preoccupied from 3838 to 3840 with a war against the Detariyan kingdoms, which staunchly resisted the guilds.) By then, the school's numbers had swelled to several hundred, and was occasionally drawing new recruits from throughout Detariya and Ethaya. Altariya University Altair and Qura's sect and followers, undeterred, would go on to found Altariya University in 3842 AL (0 BEA, 0 AEA), which aided by their inventions in warding spells and their discovery of a new form of mana generation, was able to hold off the guild's renewed assault. Unable to penetrate the warding, the guilds settled into a protracted siege against the University as they worked to create counterspells to the shielding. For ten years the University would go on struggling alone, gradually losing its advantage and depleting its ability to make any additional mana. Also during this time, the school's members would become skilled in celestiamancy (magic divination) and come to gain many of the spells wielded by the guilds. In 3852 AL (10 AEA) the university formed a strong alliance with the Detariyan kingdoms, providing them magical support in their war against the guild as they revolted against the Alliance yet again in the Fourth Detariyan War. For years the university would stand against the onslaught, ultimately winning the war in 3857 AL (15 AEA). In the years afterward, Altariya University would fill up, with over a thousand students at any one time. Spreading the Revelation With the siege on the university relieved after fifteen years, its members were free to travel the world, spreading their message. The school members sent to bring the Revelation to distant lands were those most skilled among Altair and Qura's traveling companions during their 12-year-long quest. They brought their message to their homelands, which were along the path Altair and Qura had taken. There they would be beset by spellshapers of whatever organization was in power wherever they went, but they had the near invulnerable shielding (the Lorica) that Altariya University had developed, thereby putting them on equal footing with those who would persecute them. They would spend years (approximately a decade each) growing their own local chapter of the revelationist school, until each proceeded to found their own university for their own region of the world. Over the course of two decades (the last one by 33 AEA), eight other universities would spring up. Together, these nine universities would become the Grand Circuit, united in their quest for knowledge, freely sharing knowledge with one another and collaborating on research. The magical advancements they made would usher the world into the modern age, and the Grand Circuit universities would become the most prestigious and selective of a great many other colleges that would eventually appear.